- Innovation to tackle the plastic crisis: GROHE contributes to prototype test of new river cleaning HiveX platform
- The sanitary brand and social business everwave show collaboration drives positive impacts
- Pilot project follows recent milestone of saving 37 million plastic items annually thanks to GROHE’s plastic-reduced packaging
Humanity’s modification of the water cycle has pushed the world beyond a safe operating space for continued life on Earth. With the destabilization of this vital resource, which affects the health of the entire Blue Planet, today’s World Ocean Day urges us to fight plastic waste more than ever as it attributes to the global water pollution problem and affects human health.
Protecting the valuable resource that is water is core to GROHE, a leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings. The brand pursues this goal by tackling plastic pollution from different angles with its Less Plastic Initiative, and lays the ground for a further increase in its collaborative sustainability efforts. GROHE’s partnership with everwave, a social business with the mission of cleaning rivers of waste and protecting the ocean, is now taking new shape in the pilot deployment of the innovative cleaning platform HiveX, which was launched in the Bacchiglione river in Padua (Italy) in March 2022.
Supporting new innovations to tackle the plastic crisis
Having collaborated with everwave since 2019, GROHE is a proud contributor to the inauguration of the patented HiveX platform which was launched in Padua. The anchored, stationary platform uses the power of the river stream to continuously divert and store floating waste – it is energy-efficient and environmentally friendly since the passive technology uses energy from its environment to operate. The honeycomb-shaped design calms the current of the water as it flows through, ensuring that the plastic particles reach the surface and can be skimmed off. This also ensures that only waste is collected, and animals remain unharmed. Once installed, its internal architecture allows it to collect up to five tons of waste. This prevents the litter from reaching the Gulf of Venice, thereby hindering eventual damage to the environment and wildlife.
“Initially, we wanted to develop a technology for the ocean. As the research progressed, it became clear that it is more effective to start with rivers, since 80% of the waste in the oceans comes from there. Thanks to the modular, low-tech set-up of HiveX, it is a very simple solution that can be implemented in many rivers and is therefore able to help clean up waterways around the globe – without high costs and specialized staff. We are very grateful to GROHE for supporting our mission to protect the oceans for years and for making such a positive impact on the environment as a brand,” says Clemens Feigl, CEO & Co-Founder of everwave.
Collaboration drives transformation
Besides cleaning up vulnerable water systems as one cornerstone of the partnership, both partners are committed to driving education and inspiring consumers to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. “Our close exchange demonstrates that by utilizing the expertise of a global brand a social start-up can achieve a direct, tangible impact. The partnership with everwave strengthens our role as industry leader in terms of sustainability and helps us break new ground on our contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goal 6,” says Jonas Brennwald, Leader LIXIL EMENA. Reinforcing this statement, Feigl adds: “The support of GROHE as a leading global brand helps us gain visibility in the EMENA region and drive forward our goal of a healthy ocean. By combining our strengths and raising awareness of the global plastic crisis, the environment emerges as the ultimate winner out of the collaboration.”
Inspiring others to follow
Impactful transformation can only be achieved together. Therefore, GROHE focuses on its responsibility to set a positive example and, with products like the water system GROHE Blue and the connected Made for your Water campaign, calls on the power of collective behavioral change to reduce plastic usage to contribute towards a cleaner environment. “With our brand initiatives, we aim to enable and inspire consumers and industry partners alike to take part in the plastic reduction journey. Complemented by the collaboration with everwave, our efforts demonstrate that together we can close in on our goal of a future worth living with less plastic,” says Brennwald.